Kiss and Run
by Thatoneloserkid
Summary: Tumblr Prompt; 'You kissed me in 4th grade before you moved away and now we live in the same dorm building and you don't remember me' au for bechloe? Thanks:)'


It didn't come as a surprise to Beca when her roommate, Emily, called her up telling her she had forgotten her room key. _Again_. This had happened at least six times and they had only been in the room for three months.

"And, what? Am I just supposed to leave the door unlocked for you?" Beca huffed, her phone trapped between her ear and shoulder, making sure she had her key in her pocket before she closed her dorm room door behind her.

* * *

"No, Beca, just…" The phone fell from Beca's ear when she turned around and barreled right into someone. Beca scrambled to grab her phone, looking up at the stranger when she finally got a grasp on it, a complaint was on the tip of her tongue when she recognized just who it was smiling down at her.

The blue eyes and red hair were a dead give away. Chloe Beale, Beca's first kiss, the girl who kissed her back in fourth grade then left. And, God, have the years been good to her.

"Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." Chloe said in a bubble voice, not a inkling of recognition on her face, just a, admittedly, charming smile.

"Yeah, no. It's cool." Beca rushed out.

Chloe squinted down at her, her head tilting cutely to the side. "Do you live in there?"

"Yeah."

"Cool, I'm just next door. It's weird that we've been here for three months already and we haven't met." Beca doesn't really know what to say to that, her was brain still trying to catch up with the fact her childhood friend (crush?) was standing in front of her and was a ridiculously beautiful woman. "Beca,"

Beca frowned, "So you do…"

"Your phone." Chloe interrupted when Beca didn't seem to be listening, pointing down at the phone in Beca's hand. Of course she didn't remember, she had just heard Emily calling her name through the phone.

"Oh," Beca glanced down at her phone then to Chloe and back again.

"I'll let you go, you seem busy, but I will see you around, neighbor." Chloe threw a playful wink over her shoulder as she opened her dorm room door.

Beca frowned, lifting her phone back to her ear. "Emily?"

"Jeez, where did you go? I thought you were being murdered or something." Emily sighed dramatically.

Beca rolled her eyes at Emily's dramatics. "No, I just ran into some I knew a long time ago. Anyway, what are you going to do? I have class and you don't have a key?"

"I will just hang out in the library until you are done I guess." Emily was pouting, Beca knew that, but she didn't have time to wait around for Emily to make it back to campus and she sure as hell wasn't going to leave their door opened. "Text me when you are on your way back."

"Sure, Em." Beca agreed, ending the call and sliding her phone into her back pocket as her mind wandered back to girl she had just ran into, there was no doubt in her mind that it was Chloe and, if it wasn't, it was someone who looked remarkable like the girl she used to play with in fourth grade.

Her mind wandered back to the last day she had seen Chloe.

 _It was a warm spring day and Beca and Chloe had taken up residency in the jungle gym while all the other kids were either over by the soccer field or hiding in the sheds away from the sun. Beca was lying on her tummy on the platform while Chloe was standing on the ground bellow her, the toes of her shoes kicking at the bark around the jungle gym._

 _"Are you ok?" Beca questioned, her head tilting to the side, an adorable little frown on her face. "You are real quiet."_

 _"Yeah, I'm ok. Just thinking." Chloe answered quietly._

 _"About school?"_

 _"Kind of," Chloe hummed, nodding her head quickly._

 _Beca honestly didn't think she and Chloe would get along when they initially started hanging out at the beginning of the year -Well, not so much hanging out as Chloe hanging around the jungle gym were Beca sulked until Beca spoke to her-. They were an unlikely pair, Beca was broody and tough while Chloe was bubble and sweet, but that's why it worked so well. Chloe made Beca laugh and Beca protected Chloe when she would get teased. They were both outcasts, no one really spoke to them but they were definitely good for each other._

 _The bell shirked signally it was time for them to go back to class. Beca sighed, her head sagging at the thought of having to go to class but then Chloe was pushing herself up onto her toes to bring her face closer to Beca's, using her forehead to tilt Beca's head up and then kissed her. Square on the mouth._

 _Beca blinked at Chloe when she pulled back, her heart hammering against her ribs and her cheeks were heating up to match the colour of Chloe's cheeks. "What was that for?"_

 _Chloe shrugged, "I wanted to, what it ok?"_

 _Beca was nodding before her brain even registered the question properly. "Yeah, it was nice."_

 _Chloe grinned bashfully, offering Beca a hand to help her off the jungle gym. "You are my best friend, Becs."_

 _"Yeah, me too, Red." Beca muttered, sneaking shy little glances at Chloe throughout the rest of the day, smiling whenever she would catch Chloe looking right back at her._

 _Then she showed up at school the next day and Chloe wasn't there. She figured Chloe was just sick and that she would come back tomorrow._

She didn't. She never came back.

Beca didn't find out Chloe had moved until two weeks later when she heard two of the boys in her class talking about her she was a 'loser' now that Chloe had moved to the Arctic (Which wasn't true, Chloe hadn't moved to the arctic she had moved to England. Also, Beca wasn't a loser).

Beca stalled on the steps just outside the dorm building, contemplating storming back and demanding to know why the hell Chloe had kissed her and just left. It was ridiculous, thought, what the hell would have come from that kiss anyway? They were nine years old but that doesn't mean she wasn't pissed that Chloe had just left her without a word.

Beca would be lying if she said Chloe hadn't always been in the back of her mind, she didn't think about her ofter, especially after she started fifth grade, but every time she saw someone with red hair her mind would wander to Chloe for a little while, wondering what she was up to now, if she was ok, then she would scoff to herself and forget about her again.

Beca rolled her eyes at the thought of them becoming that cliche 'childhood friends to girlfriends' couple if Chloe had stayed.

She decided that she wasn't going to spend time thinking about Chloe and quickly headed off to class.

* * *

When Beca made her way back to her room after class Emily was sitting against the wall beside the door, a pout appearing on her lips when she spotted Beca.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm not the one who leaves my key on my bed." Beca gave Emily a pointed look, taking her keys out of her pocket and opening the door. "Do I have to put it on a chain for you, kid?"

"That would be pretty helpful, actually." Emily agreed, stumbling to her feet and following Beca into their dorm.

"I will keep an eye out for a chain, then." Beca murmured distractedly, pulling out her suitcase from under her bed and opened it, pulling out the photo albums her dad had given her so she 'wouldn't forget where she came from', like that was something she really wanted to remember.

"Feeling nostalgic?" Emily asked with a little eyebrows raise.

"Nah, I'm just checking something."

"What do you want to do for dinner? I was thinking pizza."

"Ok, sure." Beca hummed disinterestedly as she flicked through the pages of the photo album, stopping as soon as the photo she was looking for caught her eye.

They were both nine in the photo and they were standing out in Beca's front yard. It was sunny that day so Chloe decided they would have a water fight and Beca ended up soaked. Beca's mom quickly took a picture of a drenched, unimpressed Beca and an equally wet, though much more happy, Chloe.

Beca's lips pulled up into a tiny smile as she thought back to that day but she quickly shook her head, closing the album and throwing the back in her case. That was all the conformation she needed that it was indeed Chloe next door.

Because tuned into her and Emily's conversation just as Emily finished speaking. "-Is in my Russian lit class, it's ok, right?"

"Yeah," Beca nodded like she had been listening the entire time.

"Ok, cool. Come on, then, she is meeting us at the pizza place just off campus."

Beca kicked her case back under her bed and snatched Emily's keys from the girls bed. "Keys, Em." Emily fumbled with the keys Beca had just thrown at her.

"Right," Emily's lips stretched into an embarrassed little smile and she nodded. "Thanks."

"Come on, then, kid." Beca bumped her shoulder against Emily's as she made her way out of the room, her hands sliding into the pockets of her jeans as she and Emily made their way out of the building.

"Are you feeling homesick?" Emily asked, squinting against the sun as she looked down at Beca.

"No, why?"

"You were looking at photos, I figured you were missing home." Emily shrugged.

"Nah, I prefer living with you then I do with my dad and his recent floozy." Beca admitted, resisting the urge to roll her eyes when Emily's entire face seemed to light up.

"That's so nice."

Beca really hadn't meant it to be a compliment, and if Emily knew what Beca's dad and step mom were like she wouldn't have taken it as one, but instead of telling Emily this she just smiled and nodded. It wasn't like she was lying, anyway, she did actually _like_ Emily, which can as a huge surprise to her because Beca rarely liked anyone, especially someone as bubbly and happy-go-lucky as Emily.

"Why were you looking at photos if you aren't homesick?"

"It's nothin'," Beca assured, rolling her eyes when Emily gave her a disbelieving look. This was something that had spoken about one month into the school year, when Beca came home with a slam of the door and frustrated groan, Emily had asked her what was up and when Beca had told her it was nothing Emily went off in this little rant. She told Beca that it wasn't good to keep everything all bottled up and that they were going to be roommates for four years so she would have to trust her and open up sooner or laters.

And Beca was working on it, talking about feelings just wasn't her thing.

"Fine, but you have to swear not to say anything to anyone."

Emily gives her a look that seemed to be a mixture of hurt and annoyance, and Beca understood why she gave her that look, Emily had never done anything to warrant any kind of distrust from Beca.

"Ok, I ran into this girl today," Beca started, shaking her head when Emily grinned. "No, not like that, I'm not into her or anything."

"Oh,"

"Anyway, I knew her from when I was a kid, we used to be friends in fourth grade, and that's why I was looking at the photos, to make sure it really was her."

"What happened? Like, why did you both stop being friends?"

"She kissed me one day at recess and than just never came back to school, I didn't know if she was dead or what."

"That bad, huh?" Emily teased, laughing when Beca lightly punched her shoulder. "I'm kidding, do you know why she left?"

"She moved to England." Beca shrugged, "And, I mean, it's been ten years, I don't have any right to hold a grudge as this point, right?"

"Yeah, of course you do, she left without telling you. And kissing you before she left makes it that much worse." Emily admitted with an annoyed little frown. She wasn't pissed to the point Beca was but Beca could tell she was a little annoyed on her behalf and that was kind of nice. "Did she apologize or anything?"

"She didn't remember me,"

"Ouch," Emily murmured sympathetically. "That sucks."

"It's no big deal," Beca said with a lazy shrug of her shoulders.

Beca really should've known this would happen, it was just her luck they Chloe would be the person Emily was meeting.

"Hey, Chloe." Emily greeted when Chloe made her way over to the booth. "This is my roommate…"

"Yeah, Beca, right?" Chloe smiled, sliding into the seat beside Emily.

Emily's eyebrows knitted into a little frowned as she looked between Chloe and Beca "You two know each other?"

"We ran into each other in the hallway today." Chloe explained, smiling softly over at Beca and, god, Beca hated herself for wanting to smile back.

"Oh," Emily murmured, her eyes widening a little when she noticed the 'are you serious' look Beca was giving her. " _Oh_."

Beca shook her head slowly at Emily, hoping that the fact she didn't want her to mention anything was coming across to her roommate.

"That's, um- Beca, why don't you go get our order?"

Emily was panicking, the pink tint on her cheeks was proof of that, and Beca couldn't help but roll her eyes at the fact.

"Sure, no problem." Beca agreed, sliding out of the booth.

"You don't know my order." Chloe said and before Beca could stop herself she let 'Hawaiian, thin crust' slip from her lips. Beca's steps faltered, partially because she really shouldn't know a _strangers_ order but mostly because she really shouldn't _remember_ Chloe's order. "How did you know that?"

"Lucky guess." Beca answered with what she hoped was an indifferent shrug.

Beca reasoned that the only reason she remembers Chloe's order was because who the hell puts fruit on a pizza? It was weird and people had a tendency to remember weird.

Emily seemed to have calmed herself down by the time Beca returned with their food and was talking animatedly with Chloe about books written in the 'old Russian language'.

"The Tale of Igor's Campaign is one of the all time greats of that genre."

"I've never read that one," Emily admitted, smiling thankfully at Beca when she placed the plate with two slices of pizza and her soda down in front of her.

"Seriously?" Chloe looked completely outrages, and a little offered, that Emily hadn't read it but she still managed to flash Beca one of those dumb smile that used to turn Beca into mush when they were kids (And so what if it had a similar effect now?). "I have it at home, I will give it to you once we get back to the dorms."

Emily took a bite of her pizza as she nodded.

"So, Beca," Chloe started and Beca looked at the girl through her eyelashes as she bit down on her pizza. "What are you studying?"

"Music," Beca answered shortly, resulting in a little frown from Chloe but the redheads attention was quickly caught by Emily who scoffed.

"She is being coy, Beca puts together these really awesome mixes. Like, songs you never even thought could be put together Beca will do it and make it sound incredible." Emily said, sounding prouder than anyone every had when it came to Beca. Yeah, Beca liked this kid. "She is working at the campus radio station and her mixes get played all the time."

"That's impressive." Chloe hummed and Beca just shrugged.

The rest of the meal went pretty much the same as that, Chloe and Emily would talk, mostly about class, and whenever Beca was invited into the conversation she would give short, one word answers (If it was Chloe who had spoken to her, if it was Emily she at least made an attempt to engage with her but immediately shut down when Chloe spoke to her).

She knew she was being rude -Emily had told her so when Chloe got up to refill her cup- but it was also pretty rude of Chloe to kiss her and leave.

Beca finds herself at her desk once she gets back to her room, working on a few mixes while Emily lies back on her bed reading the book Chloe had just given her. Neither of them seem to realize the time because when Beca eventually shuts off her laptop at one am Emily glances up at the clock on her beside table and gasps.

"One am, I have an early class tomorrow."

"Is the book that good?" Beca questions, sliding under her covers.

"It really is," Emily sighed, almost sounding disappointed that it was really that good, and reached over to turn off her lamp.

Beca just laid there in the dark, the thought that Chloe could, potentially, be sleeping on the opposite side of the wall entering her mind.

"Not to sound to presumptuous here," Emily started and Beca readied herself for a question she probably didn't want to answer. "But do you think you have this much resentment towards Chloe because you have- had feelings for her?"

"I was nine," Beca answered, tucking her arms under her head as she stared up at the ceiling.

"That doesn't answer my question," Emily shot back, waiting about ten seconds for Beca to answer but when she didn't she spoke up again. "It's ok if you do, you know? It isn't dumb or anything."

"I don't, Emily."

"Ok," Emily whispered and Beca closed her eyes, figuring that she was done talking, but sighed when she was proven wrong. "But if you did I think you should tell her. Not that you are into her but that you remember her."

"Ok," Beca murmured because she was tired and honestly didn't want to have this conversation right now. Or ever.

Beca ran into Chloe a few times over the next month, most when she was coming and going from her room. Chloe would try to engage Beca in conversation but Beca quickly nipped that in the bud, telling Chloe she had to be somewhere or that she was busy and then leave quickly. The hurt look Chloe would give her every time would make Beca regret being so short with Chloe, but only for a few seconds before she remembered just what Chloe had done to her.

"Chloe asked about you today," Emily said when Beca opened the door for her (Beca _really_ had to get this girl a chain for her key).

"So?"

"She thinks she has done something wrong," Emily drops her bag beside her bed and turned to look at Beca. "Which she has but I feel kind of bad for her."

"Your keys are on your bed, I found them in your jeans when I was doing laundry."

"Your annoyance is entirely justified, Beca, but maybe you should talk to her."

Beca sighed, sitting back down at her desk and hooked her headphones around her neck, leaning back in her desk chair as she ran her hand over her face. "What did you say to her when she asked if she had done something wrong?"

"I just told her that you were naturally quite closed off," Emily shrugged. "But I'm a terrible liar, you know that, I think she knows something is up."

Beca didn't say anything, she just stared intently at her laptop screen.

"You know, I think, subconsciously, somewhere, she recognizes you." Emily admitted, sighing when Beca rolled her eyes. "I'm serious. I asked why it was bothering her so much and she said she feels some sort of weird connection between the two of you." Emily is a very excitable person and over the past few months Beca has learnt to identify just when she was getting excited. Like now, Emily was bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet and was using her hands way to much while talking. "Maybe you both could work it out and maybe she had feelings for you, too. Maybe you both will fall in love again and maybe that would be the cuties thing every."

"You watch way to many movies, Em." Beca drawled, reaching out and lazily swiping her finger across the trackpad of her laptop.

Emily gave up after that, which was weird because Emily was nothing if not resilient, but Beca was thankful when Emily fall onto her bed and began reading.

* * *

Beca should've known Emily wouldn't give up that easily but she was still taken completely off guard when she came home from a late shift at the radio station and Chloe was sitting on Emily's bed, both girls huddled up in front of Emily's laptop.

"Beca," Emily greeted in an overly cheerful voice. "How was work?"

"Fine," Beca answered through gritted teeth, giving Emily a look that told her she was in trouble before addressing Chloe with a curt nod.

Chloe's smile faltered and that same hurt look flashed in her eyes. "Hey,"

Beca sits down at her desk and opens to top drawer to take her homework she had due for tomorrow, glancing at the due on the bed to see Chloe was still staring at her.

Everything was different back when they were kids, mobile phones and email weren't as widely used, so even if Chloe had told Beca she was leaving what could they really have done to stay in touch? Write each other letters? Sure, email wasn't prominent but that was just stone age to both of them.

Not to mention that were _nine years old_ , friendships don't tent to last all that long at that age, but there was just something different about Chloe. She was the only person that had managed to worm her way under Beca's skin. Well, until now, until Emily.

Beca frowned at her textbook, suddenly noticing the stark similarities between Chloe and Emily. The bubbly, optimistic attitude, the big smiles and bright eyes, the fact both were easily excitable. Hell, they were taking the same _classes_.

So Beca had a type, be it friendship or otherwise, which was ridiculous because people like Chloe and Emily should irritate her to no end, and they do, usually, but Chloe and Emily have this charm about them.

"Beca," Beca's head snapped up from her homework to Chloe who was smiling sheepishly and motioning towards Emily who had fallen asleep on her shoulder.

Beca rolled her eyes but the corner of her mouth was tugging up into a smile, Beca has lost count of the amount of times Emily had fallen asleep against her. "Yeah, she does that."

"Could you take this laptop so I can try lying her down without waking her?"

"Sure," Beca agreed, removing the laptop from Chloe's lap and watched as the redhead slowly stand up and tentatively guide Emily to lie down. Emily murmured in her sleep but ended up curled up on top of her sheets without waking up. "I will find a blanket to throw over her."

Chloe made her way to the door, turning to look at Beca once she was outside.

"You and Emily seem close." She commented and Beca wasn't sure if she was hinting at something but she nodded anyway.

"Yeah, that came as a surprises to me." Beca admitted, leaning against the side of the door and yawned.

"Yeah, you don't seem like you would both get along."

She was right, if anyone was to look at Emily and Beca they wouldn't peg then as friends never mind close friends, but Beca didn't like that _Chloe_ was commenting on her life. "You don't know anything about me."

"No, I know, I'm just saying." Chloe sighed, "Did I do something to you? Are you mad at me?"

"No, you just remind me of someone I used to know."

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Chloe said and Beca wondered if she actually did remember her or if Emily was right, that she did subconsciously remember her.

"Goodnight, Chloe."

"Yeah, goodnight, Beca."

Beca closes the door and locked it before leaning against it.

"You should tell her," Emily murmured sleepily from her bed.

Beca rolled her eyes at the practically comatose girl, grabbing the blanket from the bottom of her own bed and throwing it over Emily.

"Thanks," Emily breathed, her arms circling around her pillow as she fell back asleep.

* * *

"Can I see the photos?"

Beca looks up from her textbook to look at Emily who was sitting on her own bed. "The ones from last night?"

"No. Well, yes, but no. The ones of you when you were younger,"

"Oh," Beca frowned, motioning to the case under her bed. "Yeah, sure."

Emily quickly hopped off her bed, pulling out the case from under Beca's bed.

"Why anyway?" Beca asked, watching Emily as she flicked open the photo album.

"I'm just curious. Jeez, you look completely different in these photos." She comments with a soft smile.

"What do you mean?"

"Your hair was way lighter when you were younger and your eyes a much lighter blue now," Emily said, glancing up at Beca then back to the photos. "You are thinner, too, and you have straighter teeth. Did you have braces?"

"When I was thirteen."

Emily nodded, "And you have the earrings and tattoos now, you are like a totally different person."

Beca narrowed her eyes at that, suddenly realizing just what Emily was doing. "Stop."

Emily lifts her eyes from the album, a mask of innocence covering her face as her eyebrows raised questioningly. "What?"

"You know what. You are trying to justify Chloe not remembering me but I'm over it, Em, you don't need too."

"Ok, sure, the reason I asked to see the photos was to lie and try and justify Chloe not remembering you but it is true. You've changed a lot these past ten years." Emily insisted, flicking to the page were the photos of Beca and Chloe started. "Wow, Chloe hasn't changed at bit. Well, she has but she is still recognizable."

"Dude," Beca groaned.

"Chloe won't stop talking about you, Beca." Emily bounced frustratedly. "And you heard her last night, she said she knew the feeling when you said she reminded you of someone."

"You need to let this go, kid."

"No, you need to admit that you are hurt that she doesn't remember you," Beca was a little shocked by the forcefulness behind Emily's words and could only blink at her roommate as she continued speaking. "You liked her, you might not have realized it at nine years old but you know now thats what it was, and it hurts that you weren't important enough for her to remember you, at least that's what you think, and you are pissed at yourself because you are still into her, even after she left you."

"Fine!" Beca snapped, snapping her textbook closed and getting to her feet. "So I am hurt. So I thought I was important enough to her for her to remember me, even after ten years and, yeah, maybe I do have feelings for her and that fucking sucks because I want to be mad at her."

Emily has a satisfied, if a little sad, smile on her lips when Beca finished, holding the photo album out to her. "Then go tell her,"

Beca is a little too aggravated to think straight and snatches the photo album from Emily and marches right over to Chloe's room, banging loudly on the door.

It's only when Chloe swings the door opened, looking sleep tousled and pretty damn adorable, that Beca realized this is a bad idea.

"Is everything ok?" Chloe's voice is laces with concern and that just drivers Beca crazy.

"Yes. Yes, you did do something wrong."

Chloe seems to realize she is answering her question from the night before and her face falls. "Oh, well, what-"

She trails of when Beca holds up the photo album at the page of her and Chloe, her eyes widening in recognition as she looked between the photos and Beca.

"Becs," Chloe breathed, a little smile on her lips but it dropped when she moved towards Beca only for the girl to step back.

"No, no! Don't touch me. First you leave without any kind of explanation then you forget who I am?"

"Becs, I'm sorry. You just- you look so different." Chloe tried to explain, her bottom lip quivering at how much Beca actually looked _hurt_ by what she did, and Chloe couldn't blame her. "Can I explain?"

"How could you possible justify leaving without telling me, Red?" The old nickname slips past Beca's lips before she could stop it and when at soft smile works its way onto Chloe's lips she barges past the girl and into her room. "Ok, explain."

Chloe closes the door and nervously wrings her fingers together as she tried to come up with the right words.

"I didn't know what I was feeling, Beca, there wasn't any shows telling us that being into girls was ok back then, but I had those feelings for you for months. I was _nine_ years old, I wasn't supposed to have feelings for anyone, especially not my best friend, and it really fucked with my head. Then my dad told us we were leaving a week before we actually did leave and I tried to tell you, Beca, I did but it was too hard." Chloe was pleading with her eyes for Beca to understand, and she kind of did. "And kissing you, that wasn't planned, it just happened as a spur of the moment kind of thing."

"And how long did it take to forget me?"

"I never did, Beca. I still have those photo, too. I looked you up on Facebook so many times over the years but I could never find you. I still had the image of nine year old you in my head, the tiny girl with the dirty blond hair and crooked teeth." Chloe had a wistful smile on her lips as she continued. "And when we met out in the hallway there was _something_ there, Becs, but I just figured it was some kind of love at first sight kinda thing."

Beca looked away from Chloe when the redhead moved closer but she didn't move back, swallowing thickly when Chloe tentatively cupped her jaw with both hands.

"You have more freckles than I remember." Chloe whispered, her thumb gently rubbing Beca's cheekbone. Beca's eyes flickered up to Chloe as she inadvertently turned into Chloe's hand. "And you are thinner then I remember, are you ok?"

Beca nodded, "Puberty."

Chloe laughed at that answer, nodding her head approvingly. "Yeah. I mean, you were cute back then but puberty sure done number on you."

Beca huffed out a laugh, "You can't cutesy your way outta this, dude."

Chloe took the fact that Beca was smiling as a sign that she wasn't as mad as she had been. "I really am sorry, Becs."

"I was confused as to why you would leave without saying anything. Then my parents got divorced and I missed you even more after that." Beca shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant about everything but Chloe could feel her tense up her jaw, a tell tail sign that Beca was fighting the urge to cry.

"Oh, Becs," Chloe whispered, "I'm sorry."

"It's whatever," Beca shrugged, gripping onto Chloe's forearms as she stared up at Chloe.

Chloe's thumb softly touched Beca's bottom lip, gently pulling it down slightly. "You don't have to be closed off with me, Beca."

"You haven't given me much reason to trust you."

Chloe look both hurt and understanding, "I will work on earning your trust back."

Beca merely nods, sucking her lip into her mouth when Chloe let it go.

"I know I have no right to ask this but you and Emily-"

"Friends."

"Okay," Chloe nodded, "I mean, not that I'm expecting us to happen, we aren't even friends yet but I will work on that, I promise. And I will…"

"Red," Beca interrupted, as much as she was still hurt this was Chloe, her childhood best friend, and she didn't want her thinking that she didn't want to be her friend. "You talk to much."

"I just want you to know that I am sorry."

"I know, and though it hurt I can understand why you didn't say goodbye." Beca admitted, squeezing Chloe's arm. "And, on some level, I'm kind of thankful, I don't really do goodbyes."

Chloe released a little sigh of relief, frowning when there was a tap on the wall to her right.

Beca rolled her eyes, knowing exactly who was making the noise, and stepped away from Chloe. "Yes, Emily?" She called.

"I don't hear yelling, is everything ok?" Emily yelled through the wall.

"Yes, Em, everything is fine."

"Okay, good."

"She is very protective over you," Chloe commented. "She has defended you more than once, and that's just when I've been around."

"She is a lot like you,"

"Do you want to hang out? I mean, we can ask Emily over too if it just being the two of us is moving to quickly." Chloe rushed out, her anxiety easing slightly when Beca rolled her eyes.

"Yes, nerd, I want to hang out." Beca huffs with what she hoped seemed like a frustrated eye roll but, judging by the grin on Chloe's lips, she saw right through her, just like she used to when they were kids.

"Okay, cool."

"You guys aren't going to, like, do it, are you? Because I will move away from the wall if you are?"

"We should invite her out, anyway, she hasn't ate all day." Beca looked to Chloe for confirmation, smiling when the redhead nodded. "No, Em, we are going to get pizza so get ready." Beca called before adding. "And remember your key."

There was a faint 'okay' from Emily, followed by the unmistakable sound of her hopping off of Beca's bed to find her shoes.

Both Beca and Chloe made their way out of Chloe's room once she had gotten changed and tamed her sleep tousled hair, making their way towards Beca's room just as Emily opened the door.

"Keys," Beca drawled just before Emily closed the door.

"Shit," Emily whispered, rushing back inside to find her keys.

"You should get her a chain if she is always forgetting her keys." Chloe suggested and Beca hummed.

"Good idea."


End file.
